Myocarditis is localized or diffused myocardial inflammation that may originate in myocardium or occur as a part of a systemic disease. The pathological causes of myocarditis includes infection, physical-chemical factors, drug, etc., among which one of the most common is the viral myocarditis. In recent years, due to the widespread use of antibiotics for streptococcal infection, rheumatic fever caused by the infection has been gradually reduced, and rheumatic myocarditis has been significantly reduced. However, the pathogenesis of the viral myocarditis has been increasing. Viral myocarditis may be caused by a variety of virus infection, the most common being Coxsackie virus B. Sometimes, varicella and EB viruses may also cause viral myocarditis. Based on the research, about 5% of the viral infection would affect heart to cause the heart myocarditis. Virus infection will damage the cardiac muscle to cause the myocarditis. It may also be caused by autoimmune reaction after viral infection. The syndrome of viral myocarditis varies. Mild and localized lesions may have no symptoms, and the electrocardiogram (ECG) shows no abnormal performance, while the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and myocardial enzyme index do not rise. Critical myocarditis patients have obvious symptoms, such as heart diffuse enlargement and heart failure, which causes significantly short of breath and inability to lie down. Some patients show arrhythmia, recurrent syncope, and sudden death. At present, the effect of the western medicine treatment of myocarditis is not ideal. For patients with viral myocarditis, there are no specific antiviral drugs, and the treatment effect on arrhythmia in patients with chronic myocarditis is poor. Traditional Chinese medicine has accumulated rich experience and shown obvious advantages in the prevention and treatment of myocarditis, lowers mortality, and reduces sequelae.
The line leaf inula flower (Inula lineariifolia Turcz. (syn. Inula linariaefolia)) is a perennial herb that belongs to the family of Asteracece and the genus of Inula, and has the common names of narrow-leaf inula flower, long-leaf inula flower, and small inula flower. They widely grow in the northeast, north, central, and eastern China, such as Henan, Hebei, and other provinces, and in Mongolia, North Korea, far east Russia, and Japan. It commonly grows in hills, wasteland, road, river, etc. Chinese traditional medicine inula flowers are the capitulum of the inula flowers or big flower inula flowers, and the entire herbal plant (gold boiling grass) may be used for medicinal purpose. Line leaf inula flowers have been used as the inula flowers in east China and other parts of China, and has been used for ventilation, diuresis, anti-inflammatory, softening hard masses, etc., and recorded in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (1963 edition); however, line leaf inula flowers have ceased to be used as a medicine, as the patient, after being served, has the reactions of nausea, vomiting, etc.